Quotations From EDGAR ALLAN POE

Men die nightly in their beds, wringing the hands of ghostly confessors ... on account of the hideousness of mysteries which will not suffer themselves to be revealed.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), U.S. author. Published simultaneously in The Casket. "The Man of the Crowd," Gentleman's Magazine (1840).
Aborted confessions, the main theme in Poe's fiction and poetry.

Share this Quote:

You need not attempt to shake off or to banter off Romance. It is an evil you will never get rid of to the end of your days. It is a part of yourself ... of your soul. Age will only mellow it a little, and give it a holier tone.

The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure ...: buffoons,... improvisatori,... ballet-dancers,... musicians,... Beauty,... wine. All these and security were within. Without was the "Red Death."

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), U.S. author. "The Masque of the Red Death," Graham's Magazine (1842).
Illusions mobilized to oppose the death instinct.

There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man.

Think ... before the wordsthe vows are spoken, which put yet another terrible bar between us.... I call upon you in the name of God ... to be sincere with meCan you, my Annie, bear to think I am another's?

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), U.S. author. The Letters of Edgar Allan Poe, letter, November 16, 1848, to Annie Richmond, ed. John Ward Ostrom (1966).
To Annie Richmond on the eve of his planned marriage to Elmira Shelton.